The Anonymous Holiday

New Year's Eve is a strange, anonymous holiday. Beholden to be that annual turning point where we discard bad habits in favor of new pledges, it is a time when we are both brutally honest about our pasts and uncompromisingly optimistic about our future.

Bill Watterson would often chide the tradition of New Year's resolutions with the titular characters from Calvin and Hobbes. It would often begin innocently enough with Hobbes casually asking whether Calvin had made any resolutions, who would then proceed upon a tirade about how he doesn't need to change for anyone else. The strip would end with some sort of ironic commentary by his companion that would sum up the uselessness of such a practice.

There is a certain bitter negativity to this. After all, why chastise people for pledging to make themselves better people and their world a better place? Obviously the intent is to demonstrate the emptiness of such promises, which collude with the anonymity of the New Year's holiday. Meaningful resolutions are usually made upon some sort of tragic epiphany -- such as a car wreck, the death of a friend of family member, serious health issue (such as a heart attack or stroke), or other serious impetus. Without such motivation, resolve to commit becomes more about convenience than discipline.

With that in mind, I would not discourage anyone from making some sort of New Year's pledge, but I would advise anyone doing so to detach it from a temporal motive. New Year's holiday is, in itself, a meaningless event. Tomorrow is still Thursday. Make a resolution that is meaningful in and of itself, and that is worthy of pursuit well beyond the forseeable horizon.